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Identification The inaugural season jerseys are the first of the shiny Starter Mesh jerseys. The Starter jerseys were used for the first four seasons of the team's existence. In 95-96, they can be most easily identified by the block-style Starter tagging on the outside right hem. This is the only season the rectangular hem branding was used.

Crest Besides the hem tag, one of the most obvious features that defines the first year Avalanche
jerseys is the smaller crest. The crest measures 10.5 inches from the
tip of the "A" to the bottom-most portion under the puck.

Numbers A lesser known feature of the 1995-96's is the number size.
Both the 95-96's and 96-97's carried larger numbers than later shirts.
The back numbers measure 12.75 inches, while the sleeve numbers measure
4.5 inches.

Nameplates Also unique to the first year are the slightly stylized
letters in the nameplates. Although similar to the years following, close
inspection of the 95-96 nameplates reveals that the stroke width on some
letters is varied within the individual letters, while the stroke width
on letters the following years is uniform throughout the letter. Letter
height should be 4". Some of the early nameplates are uneven in shape,
with almost a handcut look to them, but this seems to go away with the
later jerseys. The stitching securing the nameplate to the jersey also
appears to be a tighter, more even stitch later in the year.

Outer Hem Logo The Starter/NHL logo on the
outer hem is not a patch and is embroidered all the way through the hem,
with a felt backing on the inside of the jersey.
This is also the only year the Starter and NHL logos were incorporated
into a single logo, which is rectangular in shape.

Set Markings There aren't any.

Preseason Sets Confirmed with a former Avs' employee that there was not a separate preseason set; the preseason jerseys were the set 1 regular season shirts.

Washing
Tags The washing
tags are located inside the jersey, stitched into the side seam. Most,
but not all of the jerseys carry two tags. One tag is a soft cloth tag
with the washing instructions emboidered on one side, and the Starter
logo embroidered on the other. The other tag, which is placed right next
to the first tag, is the "Ripon Athletic" tag. This tag is more
of a papery material. Both are blue lettering on a white tag. Please
note: though few, there have been variations of these tags:

Dual tags with no starter logo on the
cloth tag, only washing instructions.

Single cloth tag, washing instructions
only.

Dual tags with the Ripon tag cut out
(the remnant remains in the seam).

Finals Jerseys/Patches A topic of discussion
has been the fate of the Finals jerseys. Several first-year jerseys with
Finals patches have circulated in the hobby. These jerseys were created
when the team attached patches to the jerseys they had left over as backups,
jerseys that were worn earlier in the year. Consequently, these jerseys
show legitimate game wear, but are not Finals-worn. So, when evaluating
a Finals shirt, the distinction needs to be made whether it is a fake
with respect to being passed off as Finals-worn, or whether it is a fake
gamer altogether. The backup Finals shirts were discovered after the fact,
through a set purchased by a collector, who bought with the assumption
they were gameworn Finals shirts; it was later discovered through close
inspection that they were not Finals-worn after all. Other shirts of the
same variety were distributed individually by way of the trainer.

To my knowledge, only one bonafide gameworn Finals jersey has surfaced in the hobby (road burgundy). It is in a private collection, and was acquired directly from the player. The others that have circulated, and are legitimate gamers, are from the backups the team created
from the leftover shirts still in their possession at the time the Finals commenced.

Patches The "fake" Finals
worn jerseys were first brought to light because of the presence of a
replica Finals patch (replica patches were available throughout the Finals
at the arena). The replica patches, though close to the correct patches,
differ in two respects: the chevrons on the correct patches are narrower
and the fonts on the two patches differ slightly. One major complication to the patch issue
is that the team actually attached both types of patches to the shirts,
so it is possible to have an Avalanche gamer with the replica patch on
the chest.